Myth-Busting Mindfulness @ Work
Sometimes it’s best to explain something in terms of what it isn’t.
I do this a lot with mindfulness, an oft-misunderstood concept that carries a ton of baggage, especially when it comes into the workplace.
This is changing, thanks to the work of folks like Janice Marturano, founder of the Institute for Mindful Leadership, and David Gelles, author of Mindful Work: How Meditation is Changing Business from the Inside Out who just launched a mindful meditation guide as part of his multifaceted work at The New York Times.
As mindfulness goes capitalist and brings in billions, it’s becoming readily accepted in corporations and other places of work, but it is still accompanied by some pervasive myths. Let’s bust a few today.
MYTH: Mindfulness is a religious/spiritual/hippie/woo-woo/bullshit practice.
On the contrary, mindfulness is nothing more or less than a strategy for relating to our minds, thoughts and emotions in a curious and constructive way. In turn, we can then engage more authentically and productively with the world around us.
The benefits of mindfulness, which are backed by neuroscientific and behavioral research, include reduced stress levels and inflammation, improved immune function, increased attention and focus, heightened creativity (aka problem-solving), and improved collaboration and leadership (aka interpersonal relations).
In other words, work.
MYTH: Mindfulness will make me soft.
Nope. Mindfulness practice is likely to make you sharper, smarter and faster. But be warned: it’s also bound to make you kinder and more compassionate. It’s hard to be a mindful jerk.
Look, if jerkiness is your thing and you think kindness and empathy are liabilities, go ahead and keep your distance. But don’t be surprised if you can’t keep your employees.
MYTH: Mindfulness is about turning off or quieting your mind.
There are many hundreds of meditation practices out there, and some of them are about quieting the mind. Mindfulness isn’t terribly interested in that, although achieving a sense of calm is a common outcome.
Instead of trying to “quiet the mind” (good luck with that), mindfulness practice turns the mind into a laboratory where we can observe the mind’s patterns, learn how to disrupt unhelpful ones and construct new and better ones that support more skillful thoughts, words and actions.
Another way to think of it is that we are using our thoughts to redesign our minds, through the process of neuroplasticity.
I might be preaching to the choir here. Maybe you practice mindfulness or are already curious about it. Perhaps you’re planning to bring mindfulness practice to your business. If so, this last bit is just for you:
MYTH: Mindfulness is a silver bullet.
I personally believe that most people can benefit from the practice of being present and open to whatever is happening, and making skillful choices from that place of greater perspective.
I also think that work is a great place to learn this skill, and applaud companies that embrace it.
But mindfulness programs by themselves — even when successful in elevating leadership, emotional intelligence, empathy, creativity, focus, stress management skills, etc. — are not enough to change a corporate culture or effectively engage employees on their own. A company and its leaders must be prepared to change too, to evolve alongside its people to a more conscious and purposeful way of operating.
After all, even Monsanto was a corporate mindfulness early adopter.
Kristen Lisanti is a mindfulness coach + trainer for creative leaders + businesses. Come say hi at mindby.design.
